Ch. 1- The Discovery

Sitting in a cozy beanbag chair, Althea was thinking about her weekend. She was off from college for about a week for spring vacation, and in Michigan the week was blessedly warm. Having brown hair and light blue eyes, she was often seen as plain looking by all but her friends. She had a fun-loving personality, but deep down she knew that she was always sad and had a very low confidence. She looked back down at the drawing she had been working on and sighed when she saw mistakes she had made, but it was too late to fix them. Others thought her drawing skills were good, but she thought they were mediocre at best, but as the old saying goes, the artist is often the worst critic. Not wanting to sit around all weekend, she stood up and packed a backpack full of various things to bring with her as she thought of which of her old friend's houses to visit. She had lived in this area her entire life, so all of her friends were people she had known for at least 12 years, if not more. At the age of 19, she was a sophomore in college, and hadn't seen anyone from high school for over 3 months. She wondered how everyone was doing as she walked down the steps from the upstairs bedroom to the living room, picking up her iPod from the table and clipping it to the pocket of her jeans. After telling her mother where she would be going, she got onto her bike and pedaled down the neighborhood. Spring was always the most cheerful of months in Michigan, after the deep freeze of winter plants started to come back to life and animals woke from a long hibernation. Birds celebrated the new beginnings in loud songs that echoed through the state and only increased the happiness of the residents. She looked down the road at the construction sites lining the opposite side of the road and scoffed at the ugly piles of dirt that took away the beauty of the surrounding area. The business districts of the area were growing, and with it the cost of land. Neighborhoods were being overtaken by businesses and traffic as construction sites grew in number around her family's house. Althea shook her head in dismay, but knew she was powerless to stop growth. After passing the intimidating heavy machinery that sat asleep beside the already raised metal bars, she finally reached Stephanie's house after only a few minutes of riding. She parked her bike and walked up to the porch to see Stephanie open the door with a bright smile.

"Althea! Oh my god, it's so good to see you!" She motioned Althea to come in, who laughed at Stephanie's enthusiasm. She walked through the house with a bright smile; Stephanie leading her into what she knew was the kitchen. She looked around her at the rich browns and tans of the décor and walked up a small set of stairs to see a man sitting in the kitchen already. It wasn't Stephanie's father though; it was a much younger man she didn't recognize. He wasn't as young as Stephanie, but was probably a few years older than her. Althea looked at Stephanie with a raised eyebrow in question. Stephanie giggled innocently and walked over to the man, hugging him around the neck happily.

"This is Alec, my boyfriend. He's an electrician I met at work." She said, ruffling his hair. He made a sound of protest and smoothed down his jet black hair, standing to greet Althea with a smile.

"Nice to meet you, Steph's told me all about you." He said, shaking Althea's hand politely. She looked at him skeptically, wondering how old he actually was. He seemed as if he were in his upper 20's, far too old for Stephanie's 18. She'd have to watch out for Stephanie with this guy.

They broke the handshake, and Althea looked nervously around the room, not really knowing what to do. She had been without a boyfriend for about half a year now, and was still healing a broken heart. He had used her and dumped her in the usual shallow way, wanting only a girlfriend to say she was 'his girl' until he found another victim. She had been crushed, thinking he had actually been sincere in his many 'I love you' and 'you're so pretty'. But it had all been an illusion, and she had fallen for it.

Building a mental wall so that her emotions wouldn't seep into her outward appearance, Althea looked again at Alec and braced herself for the horrible green envy that uncontrollably filled her. Stephanie had rarely had a boyfriend their entire time growing up, and now she had a very handsome older guy who could take care of her very well.

Stephanie saw Althea building her mental walls and knew what it meant. After nearly 5 years of being best friends, they could read each other's body language almost perfectly.

"Anyway… Did you need anything, Althea?" Stephanie said, trying to change the conversation so Althea would be more comfortable.

"Yeah, I came to give you back your book you let me borrow, it was really good, and thanks for letting me borrow it." Althea said quietly, reaching into her backpack and bringing out one of the two books she had brought with her.

"No problem." Stephanie said, taking the book and watching as Althea leaned down to zip back up her bag. "I'll call you tonight, alright?" She said, wanting to talk to Althea about what was wrong, but not wanting to say it in front of Alec.

Althea understood and nodded, hoisting her backpack back over her shoulder, saying goodbye to both Stephanie and Alec and walked back out of the house, her mind buzzing with sad memories. Oh, how she wished those memories would go away!

She walked down the road and into one of the construction sites. She always liked to go through the upturned soil throughout these sites and find interesting objects like shiny rocks and antiques. She looked in the direction of a particularly shining object and gasped in surprise when she realized it looked like silver! She walked over to the strange object and dusted the thin layer of dirt from on top of it, revealing a strange silver carving. It looked as if it were ancient, the silver tarnished and the carvings worn away. She examined the carvings themselves and found that it was the recreation of a battle. Two sites faced each other with bared weapons, One side human being led by a woman, and the other a strange type of being that looked to be a mix of human and all sorts of different animals, leg by a human-tiger creature, baring a long sword. She turned the carvings in her hand, seeing that the strange creatures had human-like faces, except for their nostrils were that of an animal's and the ears on the sides of their head were that of an animal as well. Their feet were actually large paws, and it looked as if they all stood on their toes, although Althea knew that this was normal for an animal anatomy. She flipped the mirror over, wiping the dust away from the shining surface of the glass. The surface swirled with smoke as she looked at her own image, which appeared, was clouded by smoke, then reappeared again. Her head pounded as if something was pushing on her temples, and her eyesight blurred into swirls of darkness and random colors, making her close her eyes in pain. Her hair whipped around her face as wind blew around her, and all faded into darkness…